The Associated PressJOSEPH BRUNO leaves federal court in Albany Dec. 7 after a jury found him guilty on two felonies.

Close the “Bruno Gap!” That’s the marching order for New York state legislators scrambling to upgrade ethics laws after this week’s stunning conviction of former Senate leader Joseph Bruno for public corruption.

Lawmakers squandered the opportunity to crack down during the session now ending. But Senate leaders vow ethics will be a top priority come January. “We want a firm stance on reform from Day One,” says Austin Shafran, spokesman for the Senate Democratic majority. “We want to make this our first significant achievement of the new year.”

A wise move. As things stand, the limp state ethics laws in place let any other lawmaker do what Bruno did: Run his lucrative consulting gig right out of his lavish Senate office, using his staff to help conduct his business. Meanwhile, he kept secret business relationships with clients he introduced to officials and others, helping to arrange state contracts for which Bruno collected fat fees, out of the public eye.

Last June, the Assembly passed ethics legislation improving on the status quo. In September, Senate leaders offered an even stronger measure, but it faltered when Democrats fell one vote short and Republicans as a bloc refused to act.

This timeline suggests how prone legislators are to punt on ethics. But with Bruno facing a possible 20-year prison sentence, with a dozen state lawmakers snared by ethical lapses in recent years and with other probes continuing, legislators have more reason than ever to act.

In recent weeks, senators and Assembly members have been negotiating a tough new ethics package designed to sail through both chambers and reach the governor’s desk next month. Among the various pieces of the package are measures that would:

* Set up two panels, independent of domination by any party or branch of government, to oversee executive ethics and monitor the big-bucks world of state lobbying. A third panel would oversee investigations of complaints involving state legislators — without any lawmakers in charge. Unlike the current setup, the results of such probes would become public.

* Require more detail in disclosing legislators’ income from all sources exceeding $1,000, adding brackets above the current category of “$250,000 and up” to include intervals up to $1 million or more — and public disclosure of each category. The legislation also calls for careful reviews of annual disclosure statements.

* Disclose the names and activities of all lobbyists and their clients doing more than nominal business with public officials.

* Bar lawmakers from using “property, services or other resources of the state in an amount greater than nominal value for private business.”

* Empower the state Board of Election to enforce campaign finance rules, with the authority to impose real financial penalties on rule-breakers.

“We’re far beyond where we were in June,” says Andrew Stengel, the former reform advocate with the Brennan Center for Justice who now works for the Senate majority. Granted. But until they close the “Bruno Gap” once and for all, none of this counts.